French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "bien" in French?

byan — one syllable. A "y" glide into a nasal vowel, with no "n" consonant at all.

bien /bjɛ̃/

One syllable. As an adverb it usually follows the verb and takes the phrase's final beat: ça va BIEN, il parle BIEN.

Listen: bien

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Sound it out

b A normal "b".

ie The "i" acts as a "y" glide leading into the vowel, so this is not two beats — it is one movement.

n A nasalization marker, not a consonant. It turns the preceding vowel into /ɛ̃/, an open "eh" routed through the nose with the tongue never rising.

Hear it in a sentence

Ça va bien, merci.

I'm doing well, thanks.

Listen: Ça va bien, merci.

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"Ça va bien, merci" is the standard reply to "ça va ?" and it shows how compact French can be: four syllables carrying a full exchange. "Ça va" runs together, then "bien" gets the pitch peak before the comma, and "merci" rises again on its second syllable. Note that "bien" is the adverb — the adjective would be "bon".

Where English speakers slip

English speakers produce "bee-EN" with two syllables and a real "n" at the end, because they read each letter. It is one beat and nothing touches. The other trap is the bon/bien distinction: "c'est bon" and "c'est bien" mean different things, and "je suis bien" is not how you say you are well. Learn the phrase "ça va bien" as a unit.